News and Announcements

A lot of hope is attached to regional cooperation and its ability to pull EU out of current difficulties, connected to Brexit and the refugee crisis.

Cooperation must get closer to the people and include organizations at all levels in society, local, regional, national, NGOs and academia. EUSBSRs first Participation Day ever, an idea that originated in the Danube Strategy, took place in Berlin in connection to this years Annual Forum. The arrangement gave new stakeholders possibility to meet experienced stakeholders and discuss new projects.

Between April 5-6 the EUSBSR Spring Meeting took place in Stockholm. With a large number of HACs, PACs, but also representatives of DG Regio and the NCs present the Spring Meeting has developed into an important opportunity to further align and enhance our work.

The links below lead to all presentations and minutes of the workshops at the meeting.

HA Capacity offers individual workshops for each PA (targeting the coordination team, stakeholders and/or others in the networks). The purpose is to help coordinators develop tools, skills and competencies for further implementation of the EUSBSR.

The workshop will centre on your needs as PAC and could focus on strategic processes and policy development, alignment of funding, competence development of the network, etc.

The workshop will be planned and facilitated by HA Capacity, but in close cooperation with you as PAC.

Contact Anders Bergström (anders.bergstrom@norden.se) for a personal consultation and/or to book a workshop.

The Baltic Sea NGO Network, the Union of the Baltic Cities and the Swedish Institute are assigned as Horizontal Action Coordinators (HAC) for HA Capacity. The Baltic Sea NGO Network has appointed the Norden Association in Sweden, and the Union of Baltic Cities has appointed the Centrum Balticum Foundation, to fulfil on their behalf obligations as HAC. The presented work programme describes how these organisations plan to fulfil the assignment in the period May, 1st 2016 until April, 30th, 2018.

Let the competence, insight and funding from your transnational projects be strategically used for the long-term benefit of your home organisation. Unboxing the sandbox is a new leadership programmedesigned to help organisations unlock the full potential of transnational cooperation. Dr Mikael Olsson, project leader from the Swedish Institute invites senior elected officials and head of administrations to view the programme as a key to capacity building within the Baltic Sea Region:

We offer this programme to improve the overall understanding of the complexities of modern day local and regional administration when it is faced with cross-border and transnational challenges and opportunities.

What is the challenge with transnational cooperation that you target with this programme?For many years, hundreds and hundreds of cross-border and transnational projects have started in various constellations in the region. Many of these projects proved to have limited durability. They often cease to exist when funding runs out and the project results are seldom integrated into the normal operations of the home organisation.

Why, do you think?One explanation is that these projects have been developed and managed in relative detachment from their home organisation. In computer security terminology those projects are called ”sandboxed” and in practice they work as international satellites of their home organization, the ”mother ship”.

So how does this new programme solve the problem of integrating project results?Based on this assumption of sandboxing, we have designed the programme to problematize the current conditions and to find ways and strategies whereby transnational projects can be ”unboxed”. The competencies, insights and funding from transnational projects can be strategically used for the long-term benefit of the home organisation.

Who can participate?We target the local and regional level in the Baltic Sea Region; in particular senior elected officials (politicians) and the head of administrations (administrators). These two groups represent the strategic level of each organisation, with the position to redesign the existing governance structure that has allowed the ”sandboxing” of transnational cooperation.

Who develop this programme?The programme is developed by the Swedish Institute in cooperation with the Norden Association and with support from among others the Baltic Sea Commission and the Union of Baltic Cities.

The leadership programme Unboxing the sandbox consists of three modules in 2016:

I. A landscape of sandboxes Warsaw, 22-24 February; the logic and track record of what has been, the intent and adaptability of existing strategies and visions.

II. Tools and opportunitiesRiga, 11-13 April; understanding and adapting the existing funding and organisational matrix to the strategic needs of the home organisation.

III. Towards a new modus operandiTallinn, 13-14 June; explanation of roles and responsibilities and organisational innovation as a way to capture the full potential of transnational cooperation.

In order to enhance management and leadership capacity among implementing stakeholders, HA Capacity will develop four programmes for capacity building until April 2016.

The programmes will be developed in cooperation with working groups. This is an invitation to express your interest in participating in the working groups, and thereby to be part of the development of important capacity building programmes supporting the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Each working group will consist of approximately six representatives. The aim is to get input on the needs analyses and the development of tailor-made programmes (pilots), as well as prepare pilots and proposals on financing.

The members of the working groups will represent the target groups as well as the Swedish Institute, the Baltic Sea NGO Network/Norden Association in Sweden and the Union of the Baltic Cities.

Participants of the capacity building programmes will be organisations that are essential to the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The specific target groups of the programmes are the following four groups: PAFP, national agencies and members of steering groups; Flagship leaders / project developers / project managers; Managing authorities in the financial programmes; as well as Local and regional authorities, NGO, business and academia.

HA Capacity is looking for the following competencies, experiences and type of organisations to be part of the working groups that will prepare the programmes:

1. PAFP, national agencies and members of steering groups

- National agency and ministry employees with experience of mobilising and involving organisations at different levels in transnational/international cooperation
- Experience of coordination of international projects is as plus
- Knowledge of EU policy and programmes, e g Structural funds and preferably with a connection to the Baltic Sea Region

2. Flagship leaders / project developers / project managers

- Experience in this roles in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

3. Managing authorities in the financial programmes

- Specific responsibility and/or experience of capacity issues in connection to financial programmes
- Knowledge and experience of developing the capacity for international cooperation in local and regional organisations
- Programmes of relevance are e g transnational and cross-border programmes, ESF, Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, Bonus as well as national and regional programmes

4. Local and regional authorities, NGO, business and academia

- Practitioners with a mandate to be involved in and/or have strategic or operational experience of capacity building issues
- Organisations with experience of competence development focused on internationalisation
- Individuals with responsibilities connected to the Baltic Sea Region and international cooperation, within e g chambers of commerce
- Associations of higher education

The deadline to express interest to participate in one of the working groups is November, 20, 2015. The working groups will be nominated by HAC Capacity in the 2nd half of November, and the first meetings will take place in January with a second and final meeting in April.

In order to express your interest to participate in one of the working groups, please contact HAC - HA Capacity, Anders Bergström, The Norden Association (anders.bergstrom@norden.se) or HAC - HA Capacity, Cecilia Andrae, Swedish Institute (cecilia.andrae@si.se)

Earlier in June, the Swedish Institute (SI) joined ranks with the Northern Association when SIwas assigned a formal coordinating role within HA Capacity. This prompted the interest of the Local, one of the largest English-language news networks in Europe with more than four million readers every month:

This is an article on where it all began, the road leading to HA Capacity:

Horizontal Action - Multi level governance

At the EUSBSR Annual Forum in Tallinn in October 2010, the Regional Councils in Kalmar and Västerbotten raised the importance of a multi level approach to fully unleash the regional and local potential in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. A successful implementation of the Strategy can only be done through a close cooperation between the different political levels.

In the end of October the European Commission, DG Regio, initiated a discussion on a potential new Horizontal Action in the EUSBSR on the topics of multi-level governance.The Commission gave the Regional Councils in Kalmar and Västerbotten the task to make a short reflection paper on the content of such a horizontal action and also to take the leadership for such an action. Being a horizontal action also means that results from the actions must be integrated in other relevant priority areas and flagship projects.

The two regions have broad experiences from working with various aspects of regional development in a Baltic perspective, and where ready to take a joint and formal leadership for the new horizontal action within the EUSBSR, aiming at strengtheningmulti-level governance.

MLG is highlighted by EU.

The need for more developed governance is addressed in European documents. One example of this is the Fifth Cohesion Report that states

“Effective implementation of Europe 2020 requires a governance system that involves the actors of change in Member States and that links the EU, national, regional and local levels of administration.

In order to mobilize fully all involved, representation of local and
regional stakeholders, social partners and civil society in both the policy dialogue and implementation of cohesion policy should be strengthened. With this in mind, support for the dialogue between public and private entities, including socio-economic partners and non-governmental organizations, should be maintained.”

Another example is the White Paper on Governance from the Committee of Regions that shows how subsidiarity and multi-level-governance are mutually interdependent, subsidiarity is a prerequisite for multi level governance and vice versa. In the White Paper the Committee of Regions also suggests European Territorial Pacts that can unite different levels of governance to implement European ambitions.

In the Fifth Cohesion Report the Commission has also suggested a development and investment partnership contract that … ”will be the fruit of the discussions between Member States and the Commission on the development strategy presented in their National Reform Programmes.” It is very important that these partnership contracts are developed in a multi-level-governance context to optimize the outcome.

As the strategy moves towards a more action-oriented phase, concrete measures are crucial to ensure involvement and activity at all levels in society. As a substantial part of the planned measures of the EUSBSR action plan relies heavily on local and regional levels, a failure to involve these parties could eventually threaten the success of EUSBSR. Hence comprehensive methods, build on multi-level-governance, which facilitates local and regional contribution to the strategy is a prerequisite.

A new publication has just been produced by the INTERACT programme and is entitled 'The alignment of funding to support the EUSBSR: Where do we stand?'. This short publication includes a compilation of articles and aims to present different viewpoints on what is the alignment of funding and the state of play in its implementation. It openly presents stakeholders’ concerns and challenges in the alignment of funding process as well as gives ideas for further development.

Two new reports brings as further in understanding and promoting a closer cooperation among relevant stakeholders within the European Union Strategy for Baltic Sea Region. While “Multi-level governance in the CBC Programmes of the EU Baltic Sea region” provides an insight into how different Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Programmes have managed to implement the concept of MLG, the report “Pan-Baltic organizations and MLG in the EU Baltic Sea region” outlines the perspective of pan-Baltic organizations putting their voice at the centre.

What these reports highlight is that there has been no systematic effort to make sure that all categories of stakeholders, in particular local and regional actors, have the capacity to participate in the EUSBSR cooperation as policy actors. We see therefore a need to keep working for a more systematic strategy that allows all relevant actors to fully contribute to the success of the EUSBSR with the vast amount of competence that they already possess but that today is only partially exploited.

The European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) aims at reinforcing cooperation within the Baltic Sea region in order to join forces and face common challenges. As one of the Horizontal Action Leaders for HA Involve, Region Västerbotten has participated in the EUSBSR cooperation with the task to promote multi-level governance (MLG). Before leaving this task to other actors, Region Västerbotten wants to conclude the work that putted the MULTI LEVEL governance perspective on the table - with previous reports “Multi-level governance in the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region - An actor’s mapping perspective”.

Hopefully these and coming reports will provide our successors and participating stakeholders with more ideas for future work and discussion on the MLG issues. Region Västerbotten would like to wish all partners and stakeholders in the EUSBSR luck in future missions.

In the city of Umeå, gender equality is a prioritized political goal and an important element of a sustainable development. In the work for gender equality, cooperation is a key word. The UBC Commission on Gender Equality, of which Umeå currently holds the secretariat, is an important network for promoting gender equality and exchanging experiences and knowledge across the Baltic Sea region. Together with several other cities around the Baltic Sea we are developing expertise and actions in order to reach gender equality.

Goals and aims of the UBC Commission on Gender Equality
The Commission focuses on three main areas in promoting gender equality:

· Combating prostitution and human trafficking

· Adressing issues of the labour market

· Social planning, urban planning and planning work

New report on the situation for women and men in the UBC 2013

During 2013, the UBC Commission on Gender Equality has been realizing a second rapport on the situation of men and women in the Baltic Sea region, observing progress in some areas while many challenges still remain. Here is the report: Men and women in the UBC 2013. We hope that this report will help put gender issues on top of the agenda and that our cities and region will continue to share knowledge and best practice among each other. We invite you to take time to read it and reflect on how you can contribute in the work towards a gender equal society.

The Commission is open for new members. Politicians, officials, managers and other interested from the member cities are welcome to join the Commission. Both women and men are invited to join in this work!

For more information about the UBC network and the Commission on Gender Equality visit the UBC webpage: or contact us.

In 2013, HA Involve conducted a series of activities aimed at highlighting and promoting an enhanced multi-level governance in the context of the Baltic Sea Strategy. Among other things, HA Involve participated in various meetings, conferences and seminars in the Baltic Sea cooperation, as well as at meetings in other contexts such as Open Days and the Working Group on the Baltic Sea Strategy in the Committee of the Regions in the EU. The reaserch-practitionar workshop held at the nordic institute for regional policy Nordregio in june this year, was some kind of a kick-off of a very work-intense fall.

During our meetings with various stakeholders of the strategy we note that the interest in multi-level governance is great and that the response of its importance is indisputable. The difficulties raised is as always on time-space and knowledge deficiencies.

All these studies have now been completed and we are delighted to present them all together. Even if the three reports just gives brief snapshots of the multi-level governance of the Baltic Sea Strategy they help us take small but important steps in our understanding of a successful implementation of the Strategy.

Please let us know if you as a reader/stakeholder have questions or remarks on our reports - they are getting stronger if they are read, discussed and revised when needed!

HA Involves stand at the project village at the 4th Annual Forum in Vilnius 11-12 november had a lot of visitors. Working with Multi-Level Governance in regions and organisations is interesting for many stakeholders.
But how to find the "right" partner at the "right level? Here you can download the tool for Multi-Level Governance and find out how you´ll find a partner.

As horizontal action leader (HAL) for multi-level governance (MLG) in the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) HA Involve has the task to investigate the level of participation in the development and implementation of the EUSBSR. The indicators used to measure the participation in the development were to measure and analyse the participation in the EUSBSR Annual Forums. The result of this investigation was presented in the report “Stakeholder in the EUSBSR” in June 2013.

This report is concentrating on the implementation of the EUSBSR. The implementation of the EUSBSR is said to be done mainly through flagship projects, but a lot of work, related to the objectives of the EUSBSR, is done in other transnational projects financed through the European transnational Cooperation programmes. These projects do not have the status of flagship projects. However, In this study we have concentrated on projects in the Interreg IIIB BSR Programme (2000-2006), the Baltic Sea programme (2007-2013), the South Baltic programme (2007-2013) and the Central Baltic programme (2007-2013).

Cooperation between the Baltic States has a long history and can even be qualified as a tradition. Horisontal and local actors have been running transnational initiatives that have given all its sense to the creation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) is the best tool for sustainable development and for reaching our goals towards the EU 2020. Emphasizing the BSR assets, but also offering integrated tools for handling our challenges, the Strategy represents a huge enterprise for all of its actors and stakeholders. A vast initiative indeed, because of the number of areas to work with, the quality and quantity of challenges to address, but also, the number of actors that are required for achieving our goals. As M. Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, President of the Committee of the Regions said, in order to succeed with the EU 2020, “We need to work in partnership, and develop a culture of ‘multi-level’ and ‘multi-actor’”. The best approach with the EUSBSR relies on the same needs.

The preparation of the next programming period will give us the opportunity to give a new focus and a new approach to our initiatives. It is also the period that will mark the most our achievements since we will get the occasions to start from a concrete basis, built by our previous cooperation. This chance must be taken by all of us, actors and stakeholders of all levels and member-region. These past few months’ important questions have been raised towards the future of our Baltic Sea Region Strategy. One of them is asking you, actors and stakeholders, where is the added-value of the EUSBSR and which added-value can we bring to it. Coupled to this stake, it is important to keep in mind, how to lead such an enterprise. Multi-level governance has been highlighted as the best method for handling the EUSBSR cooperation. The HA Involve leaders are therefore convinced that even if MLG represents a challenge, it is above all, the most impacting method for working together. But knowing that it is a necessary tool is not enough for implementing it. This is why, in order to support the EUSBSR stakeholders and actors, HA Involve has the following priorities:

- Building methodology

- Build contacts and networks

- Build and offer knowledge

- Reinforce coordination

- Reinforce communication

Working on the mapping of the actors involved in the EUSBSR will give you all the possibility to understand how your cooperation has been running and where are the lacks. Such initiatives receive the total support and expertise of the Committee of Region. Only with analysis will we know where to make progress. Evolution is at stake for the EUSBSR and new progresses must now be reached.

We are glad to publish documents from our workshop on mulit-level governance policy-making the 10th of June at Nordregio, in Stockholm. Attached to this page, you can find a summary of discussions during the day as well as slides presented by the speakers.

The workshop was organized by HA Involve, in co-operation with Baltic Sea Commission (CPMR-Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions) and Nordregio (Nordic Center for Spatial Development)

We have been glad to see your commitment and interest for the matter and above all, to reinforce our dialogue with you. We have taken into account all your requests, remarks and questions and will now orientate our activities for meeting your expectations.

We do hope that the documents covers the activities of the day sufficiently.

Do not hesitate contact us, HA Involve, for comments, questions or remarks!

As horizontal action leader for multi-level governance in the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) HA Involve has the task to investigate the level of participation in the development and implementation of the EUSBSR.

In this report we provide a brief stakeholder-analysis on participation in the EUSBSR Annual Forums 2010-2012, as well as a local-level analysis of project-participation in Baltic Sea Region Programme and its precursor Interreg IIIB.

This short report will be followed by a more comprehensive report by HA Involve, this autumn.Best regards

Thank you for your presence to our workshop on multi-level governance policy-making in Nordregio this Monday. We have been glad to see your commitment and interest for the matter and above all, to reinforce our dialogue with you. We have taken into account all your requests, remarks and questions and will now orientate our activities for meeting your expectations.

End of June we will post the presented documents and a summary of our discussions on this webpage.

The creation and instauration of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region has opened new possibilities for addressing the major challenges of our times. In this process, the evolution of our policies and governing system had to evolve. In parallel the introduction in the strategy of multi-level governance as the process enabling the success of our initiatives has brought new questioning and stakes.
Multi-level governance represents for all of us a chance to establish a fair governance in our macro-region. However it can sometimes be a concept hard to materialized.

HA Involve leaders, the CPMR Baltic Sea Commission and Nordregio are working for developing knowledge, methods and activities towards a better MLG in our region. This goes jointly with our willingness to make it possible and easier for you to develop and beneficiates from it.
In this context, our organizations, with the support of the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, invite you to a “policy-research” workshop on June 10, 2013 at Nordregio Stockholm.
You will find attached to this mail our invitation, practical information but also, the background of this workshop.

We wish you all good reception and hope you will participate to our discussions on the 10 of June.